Coincidence? Black People In Georgia Typically Get The Oldest Voting Machines, Increasing Chances Of Error

Electronic machines in Georgia are notoriously prone to problems and primarily in poor communities.

An often overlooked way that suppression of Black votes occurs has been through the use of ancient, error-prone paperless voting machines. Many of these ATM-style pieces of aging equipment have been around for nearly two decades and were riddled with known problems. Still, they were being used for Tuesday’s pivotal Midterm elections that carry a world of political consequence.

The practice was particularly problematic in Georgia, where all voters were using the same equipment. But there was an important distinction to be made: voters in the poorest communities, which many times is synonymous for where Black folks live, tend to have the oldest of the machines made available to them, increasing errors for a demographic that has traditionally been underserved politically.

“The counties and cities with the fewest resources are voting on the oldest equipment that tend to have the most problems,” Edgardo Cortés, an election security advisor at the Brennan Center for Justice’s Democracy Program, confirmed to NewsOne during an interview on Monday.

Cortés said the Brennan Center, a nonpartisan law and policy institute at New York University Law School, has been making a big push nationally, including in Georgia, to get states and local governments to get rid of the paperless equipment. Using them could result in voters continuing to see their votes being switched, as was the case in Georgia during early voting in the weeks leading up to Election Day. That probability far outweighed the chances of any electronic interference, Cortés said. Making matters worse, there is no paper trail that could verify the voter’s intent.

Not including printed paper or provisional ballots, there were only five states nationwide that were exclusively using paperless electronic voting machines that don’t provide printed documentation of the voter’s choices. Those states are Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, New Jersey, and South Carolina. Another eight states, including Texas and Pennsylvania, were also using paperless machines in some of their jurisdictions.

Predictably, the problem all came down to money for these states’ underserved communities.

“They don’t have the finances and resources to switch out the newer equipment,” Cortés said. “Because of that, you start to see a divide in the voting experience depending on where you live.”

Georgia’s election was under a microscope for good reason. Electronic machines there have been vulnerable to hacking and were notoriously prone to errors. The main problem involved voters selecting a candidate on the screen before the machine automatically cast the ballot for a different candidate. Errors with the machines tended to involve voter selections automatically switching from Democratic to Republican candidates.

Compounding those reports was the glaring conflict of interest from Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, the Republican candidate for governor who was also overseeing the state’s election system. He was running against Stacey Abrams, who could make history as the nation’s first African-American woman governor. The two candidates were in a neck-and-neck race, so faulty machines could conceivably hand the election to Kemp.

The problems with Georgia’s electronic machines were not new, and Kemp has long resisted using a paper ballot backup system since there was no incentive to change it because the errors favor his party.

With Election Day here, it’s too late to make changes to the equipment. Cortés advised voters to review their summary screen before casting their vote to ensure that their choices were selected. And as a contingency, officials should maintain enough paper and provisional ballots on hand if machines don’t work.

7. Black Girl Magic

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8. Electrified Crowd

Audience here in Marietta GA for Oprah’s first town hall for @StaceyAbrams is overwhelmingly black women — *the* crucial voting block that can turn the election in Abrams’s favor. pic.twitter.com/1wQAr0rhtV

10. Vote Your Values

"Let me just talk to the women for a minute," Oprah Winfrey says while campaigning for Stacey Abrams, telling listeners to "stand united and vote our values. Vote your values. Vote you conscience." https://t.co/uhXHjlRQUwpic.twitter.com/YPbn7M4P5j

[caption id="attachment_3834799" align="alignnone" width="815"] Source: Jessica McGowan / Getty[/caption]
Oprah Winfrey’s star power was on full display Thursday at a rally to fire-up Stacey Abrams' supporters ahead of Election Day.
See Also: Can Oprah Winfrey Help Stacey Abrams Win Georgia?
Abrams, who could become nation’s first African-American woman governor, is in a tight race against Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp. The GOP nominee has been under fire for using his secretary of state post to suppress the Black vote. The boost that Oprah brought could make all the difference.
The former talk show queen rolled up her sleeves and knocked on doors for Abrams, urging folks to show up at the polls on Tuesday afternoon. Take a look at this moment that was captured on video.
https://twitter.com/brynnaquillin/status/1058060878266974209
At the rally in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, Oprah made an impassioned plea by asking attendees to honor their ancestors’ sacrifices.
“For anybody here who has an ancestor who didn't have the right to vote, and you are choosing not to vote—wherever you are in this state, in this country -- you are dishonoring your family," she said to the crowd and national television audience.
In a light-hearted moment, the mega star underscored that she genuinely supports Abrams.
“I’m an independent woman. I’ve earned the right to do exactly what I want to do, when I want to do it,” she said. “Nobody paid for me to come here; nobody even asked me to come here. I paid for myself, and I approve this message!”
Here are some other memorable moments: